Senior Australian of the Year

Nominee

2019 QLD Senior Australian of the Year Nominee

Professor John Grant-Thomson AM RFD

State: Queensland

Emeritus Professor John Grant-Thomson AM RFD has served Australia through careers in the military, industry and academia. His most significant invention, the Neocot, transports critically ill premature babies to specialist hospitals and is used in Australia and overseas. John also served the military and had an outstanding academic career.

Emeritus Professor John Grant-Thomson has dedicated his life to serving Australia through out-standing military, industry and academic careers. His most significant invention, the Neocot, transports approximately 300 premature or critically-ill Australian babies to specialist hospitals each month, and helps save countless critically ill babies in European countries. Produced in Toowoomba through BAC Technologies, the Neocot contributes significantly to the local econo-my.John served in the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Army Medical Corps and was a reservist for three decades, receiving Military Awards. His medical Mobile Intensive Care Rescue Facility, developed with an Australian Army doctor, was initially used for ADF troops in the Rwan-dan civil war.

He was a member of the NASA team which established a tracking station in Toowoomba to re-search satellite communication systems culminating in man walking on the moon. John enjoyed a long and fulfilling academic career at the University of Southern Queensland, obtaining graduate and postgraduate qualifications. He pioneered developments in biomedical engineering, inspired scores of research students, and built links between the military, community and local industry.